Song Of The Day: Tapes and Topographies — “With That Being Said”

Open Up Your Mind And Feel At Ease With This Warm And Drone-Filled Track From Todd Gautreau’s Latest Ambient Project.

Welcome to Song of the Day, where we hip you to all the new local releases you should be caring about. By highlighting one new North Texas-sprung tune every week day, our hope is that you’ll find something new to love about the rich and abundant DFW music scene five days a week. 

Tapes and Topographies – “With That Being Said”
RIYL: Needing to unplug
What else you should know:  remains one of the most prolific songwriters around North Texas. As the singer/songwriter for the rock-tinged Crushed Stars and the industrial-inspired Tear Ceremony, he’s had his Tapes and Topographies ambient project since 2014. He has a lot of ideas in his brain, and it’s good he has a variety of projects to get them out.

He’s about to release a new 10-track LP with Tapes and Topographies called Modalities in a few weeks, but he already has a couple of tracks online to hear, including today’s song, the soothing seven minutes of “With That Being Said.”

This is Gautreau’s 14th release as Tapes, and it’s another great entry in a long line of quality material.

Sans vocals, this warm, drone-filled track never tests the patience of the listener with noise. It puts you at ease like a quiet walk in a forest or a sunrise at a beach. Think of Brian Eno with some Hans Zimmer and Vangelis thrown in as supporting roles. A wall of warmth, if you will.

Gautreau plays everything with this project, and it’s clear he’s in touch with deep emotions and happy to give the listener those. Ambient music is not for people on the go, racing from one thing to the next. But it’s a chance to step back and think about how it is to be alive.